Syrian Serendipity (of Sorts): The Dutch photographer Lambert Wolterbeek Muller took this picture of a newspaper there recently, noting that both images on both pages were related to the upheavals in Syria. (Lambert Wolterbeek Muller)
Four weeks ago Robert Ford, the American Ambassador to Syria, played right into Syrian hands by taking part in a propaganda tour organized by Syrian President Hafez el Assad to showcase the alleged interference of "radical Islamists" in
Syria's uprising. The "radical Islamists" card has been a canard from the start of the uprising. Ford should have known he was being played for a fool. He went anyway, and said nothing during or since. His silence was an embarrassment. I wish I could say it was a surprise. It wasn't. It's been part of the Obama administration's astounding feebleness and irrelevance in the face of the Arab Spring.
"We can only hope," Richard Grenell wrote in the Huffington Post, "Ford's public silence means he has been giving it to Assad privately. But unfortunately there are press reports indicating that Ford hasn't been able to schedule a private meeting with any senior government officials. So the U.S. Ambassador to Syria just sits and waits."
On Thursday, Ford awoke from his administration's slumber. He went to Hama. That's the Syrian city that was the scene of a bloodbath ordered by then-president Hafez el Assad in 1982, against the Syrian Brotherhood, which held sway over that city and was challenging Assad's authority. Assad leveled neighborhood after neighborhood, murdered thousands, then invited the press to see what he had done, as an example and a warning to anyone else who'd challenge him. He had introduced Syrians to Hama Rules.
Hama has again been a center of rebellion, this time against Assad's son, Bashar el Assad. On July 5, the U.S. Department of State released a statement slightly more strongly worded than the usual bromides (or absence of words whatsoever) about Syria: "The government of Syria claims it is interested in a dialogue with the opposition. Yet, its actions in cities like Hama and along the Turkish border directly undermine the credibility of its words and its initiative. Syrian security forces have once again stepped up their repression and harassment of peaceful demonstrators and opposition members. There is no justification, no excuse for the Syrian security forces to begin yet another crackdown, killing protesters and arresting people suspected of political opposition. We urge the government of Syria to immediately halt its intimidation and arrest campaign, pull its security forces back from Hama and other cities, and allow the Syrian people to express their opinions freely so that a genuine transition to democracy can take place."
The following day, Ford himself released a terse statement about Syrian forces detaining American tourists, residents of Syria and, in one case, a diplomat, and did the next-best thing to leaving Syria: he reduced the embassy staff and recommended against further American travel to Syria.
Then Ford did something remarkable. He went to Hama.
Ford toured the city. He showed solidarity with the protesters. And he stayed overnight, to be there on Friday, now the traditional day of protest in the Middle East, following Friday prayers. And that one act, for once, drew out a response to anything American that had been lacking in the Arab Spring until now as "demonstrators poured onto the streets and draped his vehicle with flowers and olive branches, according to video from the scene," the Washington reported. (The video is ominously no longer available "because the uploader has closed their YouTube account.")
"After weeks of cautious, careful U.S. criticism of Assad, Ford's physical presence in the city that has now defied both Assads -- the father and former President Hafez, and his son Bashar -- was a hugely symbolic, indeed taunting, gesture, one soon mimicked by the French ambassador," Time's Rania Abouzeid wrote from Beirut before adding: "But will it do more harm than good?"
Strange question. There were half a million protesters in the streets of Hama Friday, according to Al Jazeera. Had the American ambassador not been there, it would have been another massacre. On this day at least, Ford prevented a bloodbath. Of course the Syrian regime was livid. Its official news agency released the following statement: "The presence of the US ambassador in Hama city without obtaining a prior permission from the Foreign Ministry as stipulated by instructions distributed repeatedly to all the embassies is clear evidence of the US involvement in the ongoing events in Syria and its bids to aggravate the situations which destabilize Syria.''
Assad doesn't like his guns muzzled, especially in Hama. But it may just be that Hama will be ground zero for a new set of rules. It's about time. And it may well be time for the Obama administration to stop standing by, as Ford finally stopped, and to lend more than a pen for that re-writing.
See Also:
Comments
Thanks Pierre for a timely piece. Just a few remarks if I may. Opposition figures inside Syria expressed the view that the US Ambassador could not have gone to Hama without the prior knowledge and approval of the Syrian Government. Syria as we all know as a police state. Everyone is watched.
If however the US Amabassador did act independently and without the knowledge of the Syrian authorities, good for him and I commend his courage.
As for Obama’s feeble handling of Syria, I think, as I told a Think Tank recently, the US Administration does not want a radical Islamic regime to fill the vacuum if Assad and his henchmen go. The Devil you know is preferable to the one you don’t know. The Muslim Brotherhood could pose danger to Israel and to Christians and other minorities inside Syria. However this fear is exaggerated. The newly elected leader of the MB Mr. Mohamad Riad Shaqfa has said “we have no intention of setting up a religious Islamic state” he also said in an interview with Alquds Alarabi Newspaper that the MB will respect human rights etc.
Therefore it is best for the US to stand with the people against the tyrants and help in toppling them down.
It certainly was very hard to obtain any adequate ugg boots sale vendors some three years back and to get the proper dimension you had to fall back entirely in acquiring these boots on the internet being delivered for you right from miles away. All of that seems to have since then transformed significantly since these ugg boots became a fashion trend and will certainly be acquired nearly just about anywhere around the globe.
uggs
may be a great deal that should absolutely not end up being ignored. Ugg boots come from sheep skin as a consequence they feature a virtually second to none general performance in order to keep your own feet within the comfort they will ought to have, they enable the users foot to keep respiring whilst reading and absorbing moisture along with delivering outstanding temperature that may be higher than that of just about any unnatural materials.
It was a significant problem a couple of years back about the reliability in the ugg boots sale since there was clearly lots of counterfeited and faux ugg boots being sold by many companies to brew a profit from it.